This invention relates generally to a method for displaying numerical data obtained from physical measurements, and more specifically to a new method of presenting graphic data pertaining to cardiopulmonary function data obtained during the course of exercise testing on living subjects whereby the measurements indicative of abnormal values will be readily apparent.
In co-pending Anderson et al. application for U.S. Pat. No. 306,607 filed September 29, 1981, there is described a cardiopulmonary exercise system which allows for real-time, breath-by-breath acquisition, analysis, display and printing of an individual's physiologic parameters which are measured during the course of an exercise regimen. That application describes in detail the hardware and software implementation of the exercise system whereby a wide variety of measurements may be taken and used in computing numerous cardiopulmonary parameters which are deemed of interest to trained medical personnel in evaluating the metabolic state of the subject under test. Basically, that system measures and/or computes data that are ultimately stored in a memory but which may be printed out in tabular form or, alternatively, may be displayed on conventional Cartesian coordinates where one parameter is chosen to be the independent variable and another parameter is chosen to be the dependent variable.
It has been found that the tabular presentation of numerical data does not lend itself to rapid analysis for the purpose of detecting cardiopulmonary abnormalities. While highly experienced medical personnel are able to interpret such data, it has been found that by appropriating presenting it in a graphical form, recognition of disease conditions and/or the ability to diagnose cardiopulmonary disfunction is enhanced.